Allentown, Pa., (8 Feb. 2019) \u2014\u00a0A three-act play that fluctuates between hyperrealism, shows-within-a-show, and a fully realized Simpsons operetta is taking shape at Muhlenberg College. It\u2019s \u201cMr. Burns: a Post-Electric Play,\u201d by Anne Washburn \u2014 a meditation on media, the apocalypse, and \u201cThe Simpsons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018The Simpsons\u2019 is arguably the most iconic piece of modern pop culture in the past 30 years, and the thing that really draws me to this play is the importance that it places on pop and media culture,\u201d says Nick Reit \u201919. He plays Gibson, a traveling survivor and \u201cSimpsons\u201d enthusiast. \u201cIn this play, we\u2019re reaffirming the importance of community-making that occurs when you consume that culture and then talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first act of \u201cMr. Burns\u201d chronicles the immediate aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse and features a group of survivors sitting around and talking through a well-known episode of \u201cThe Simpsons.\u201d The second act, seven years later, depicts that same group of survivors, now performing in a ragtag theatre troupe, collecting and performing beloved episodes of \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d for a paying audience. The third act takes place 75 years later still, in a future culture in which \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d has transformed into mythic allegory of epic proportions.<\/p>\n
The play runs Feb. 20-24 in Muhlenberg’s Studio Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love working on shows that have great swings of energy and emotional colors across both comedy and drama, says director and theatre professor Beth Schachter. \u201cThis show encompasses truly devastated characters who are dealing with grief and loss, but also the hilarious ways those people entertain themselves and create their own Simpsons-inspired mythology as performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first two acts of \u201cMr. Burns\u201d examines the role of community in the aftermath of a crisis \u2014 exploring how people react, how they come together and talk to each other when their entire cultural context has been razed to the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething that really gets me is when all else fails, we still make culture,\u201d says Julia Baker \u201919, who plays Quincy in the first two acts and Marge Simpson in the third. \u201cThe play shows how much pop culture can ground someone, regardless of situation \u2014 and it\u2019s interesting that \u2018The Simpsons\u2019 has risen to become the embodiment of American culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can build something out of nothing,\u201d says Nicole Morris \u201921, who plays Jenny, another survivor. \u201cYou may have lost a political system, but you can still make culture. You have the people, which is all you need to make anything happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third act in particular raises the social position of pop culture to grand heights, highlighting the way in which the stories we tell depend on the environment in which we live. In this act, 82 years after the nuclear meltdown, that old \u201cSimpsons\u201d episode from around the campfire has been elevated to high culture \u2014 a \u201cSimpsons\u201d operetta, stuffed with the bits and bobs of turn-of-the-millennium American life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe play takes these classic characters we love and makes them all the more universal,\u201d says Griffin O\u2019Connor \u201919, who\u2019s playing the titular villain. \u201cThese archetypes start to show up, and it\u2019s been interesting to figure out how to embody Mr. Burns and how to embody evil in a way that pays homage to the 75 years of trauma and pain these people have gone through to create this society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Constructing society involves more than just performance. Costume designer Matthew Ryan Limerick says that a lot of his work had to do with conceptualizing how people would rebuild industry in the aftermath of disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn designing the costumes for the third act, I\u2019d tell one of my friends the name of some obscure Simpsons character and ask them to describe the character to me,\u201d Limerick says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I\u2019d get my design. It\u2019s about how we\u2019ll remember these characters when we don\u2019t have the internet, or books about \u2018The Simpsons\u2019 lying around to reference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten to this point where clothing has become temporary and limited. But what happens when we don\u2019t have the machines to mass produce anymore?\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Through music and dance, \u201cMr. Burns\u201d\u2019 third act takes us through some unifying cultural highlights while critiquing culture-destroying systems. The score, written by late composer Michael Friedman (\u201cBloody Bloody Andrew Jackson\u201d), combines modern pop music, classical church pieces, and some of Gilbert & Sullivan\u2019s greatest hits. Ed Bara musical directs and Sammy Reyes choreographs.<\/p>\n
Baker says audiences should anticipate the musical cues being familiar, with allusions to such songs as \u201cLivin\u2019 La Vida Loca\u201d and \u201cToxic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one considers those the best songs of all time, but they\u2019re songs we all know,\u201d Baker says. \u201cThey\u2019re songs that make us happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cast of \u201cMr. Burns\u201d has spent much rehearsal time living in that dark, post-apocalyptic space. Reit says the third-act pop music lightens everyone up enough that they\u2019re able to work through the difficulties together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have an awesome ensemble of collaborators and talented people in the room,\u201d Reit says. \u201cEveryone involved is bringing it both in the actual act of doing it and in creating an environment for us all to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play\u201d Feb. 20-24. Showtimes are Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Regular admission tickets are $15. Tickets for youth and LVAIC students and staff are $8.<\/p>\n
Tickets can be purchased online at muhlenberg.edu\/theatre<\/a> or by phone at 484-664-3333. Performances are in the Empie Theatre in the Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 West Chew St., Allentown.<\/p>\n Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is a highly selective, private, four-year residential college located in Allentown, PA., approximately 90 miles west of New York City. With an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, sciences, business, education and public health. A member of the Centennial Conference, Muhlenberg competes in 22 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.<\/p>\n Muhlenberg offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance. The Princeton Review ranked Muhlenberg\u2019s theater program in the top twelve in the nation for eight years in a row, and Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theater and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theater and dance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nInformation Provided By:
\nScott Snyder
\nMarketing & Development Manager
\nMuhlenberg College Department of Theatre & Dance<\/p>\n
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